Programs
1st Sub-Sections
2nd Sub-Sections
Timor-Leste
Child Spacing Promotion
In December, 2005, HAI received funding from World Learning for International Development for a three-year program to integrate child spacing promotion into its existing maternal and newborn care program in seven districts of the new nation of Timor-Leste. During the first year program activities are focused in the four central region districts of Liquica, Ermera, Aileu and Manatuto with expansion in the second year to the remaining central region districts of Manufahi, Ainaro, and Dili.
The program addresses the need for increased knowledge and use of child spacing practices in Timor-Leste. The government of Timor-Leste recognizes the importance of spacing births and reducing the country's high birth rate as a means of reducing the country's high levels of maternal, infant, and child mortality. Fertility in Timor-Leste is currently the highest recorded internationally, with a total fertility rate of 7.8, which corresponds to a population doubling time of approximately 17 years. Maternal mortality is also very high, estimated at 800 per 100,000 live births. Infant mortality is estimated to be 84/1000 live births, with nearly 11% of children, or 107/1000 dying before reaching age five. The population of Timor-Leste has little knowledge about and utilization of contraceptives, with only 38% of women able to name or recognize any method of contraception and only 9.7% nationally currently using a modern method.
Photo: Nadine Hoekman
The major partner for this program is the Timor-Leste Ministry of Health. The MOH contributes the services of district-based midwives and nurses and provides technical and supervisory support, with HAI assistance, to District Program Officers for MCH services, who supervise the clinical and outreach activities of the midwives.
Other contributors to improved child spacing in the country include:
- Café Timor Cooperative, which provides health services to residents of the coffee-growing areas;
- Catholic Church-affiliated clinics, whose health staff will be trained in natural child spacing;
- UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], which provides the MOH with training in counseling and in the provision of child spacing services as well as the provision of supplies;
- And other community-based groups throughout the program districts.
The major activities of the program involve supporting the Timor-Leste Ministry of Health in:
- Production of educational materials to promote child spacing for community level training and dissemination (such as posters, a flip chart, kiosk flyers, and radio broadcasts)
- Community training of district-level workers (church-affiliated health units and organizations, women's organizations, Peace Corps volunteers, staff of local and international NGOs, community leaders, and community health volunteers) to increase awareness and use of child spacing methods
- Supervision in the districts to monitor facility and community level activities related to child spacing
- Development of village dramas that promote increased awareness, open communication, knowledge, and motivation regarding child spacing and sources of services
- Development of an educational/motivational film discussing child spacing and contraceptive methods, produced by a locally-based filmmaker, and to be shown at health facilities and community events.